


all the love we had

by dreamerdiving



Category: Legacies (TV 2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Fix-It, Gen, can be read as hope/josie but not really, i hated the non-consensual kiss thing so i re wrote it, post-episode: s02e16 Facing Darkness Is Kinda My Thing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-21
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-18 03:28:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,977
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29603184
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dreamerdiving/pseuds/dreamerdiving
Summary: Josie knows something is off in her head, and she knows it's connected to Hope. More specifically, the fact that Hope is in a coma.or,i hated the way the writers woke hope up so i re-wrote it myself
Relationships: Background Landon Kirby/Hope Mikaelson, Hope Mikaelson & Josie Saltzman, Hope Mikaelson & Josie Saltzman & Lizzie Saltzman
Kudos: 8





	all the love we had

**Author's Note:**

> i have like four other fics to write but i wrote this one in like three hours, unedited, so. here you go!
> 
> (title is from supercut by lorde)

Josie doesn’t remember a lot of what happened when she went dark, other than what everyone has told her: she killed Alyssa, as well as nearly her sister and Hope and basically the entire school. She didn’t remember much, but she knew two things. Dark Josie, as Lizzie had taken to calling that unfortunate period, had her rely on her sister a little (a lot) less. It wasn’t the ideal way she wanted to wean off the codependency thing, but it happened anyway. Where the twins were once attached at the hip, they now cut the skin and healed it, supporting each other instead of being the sole thing holding each other up.

The second thing she learned from Dark Josie was how to control her own mind. Everything in her head was essentially the same, albeit messed around and scattered everywhere, except for three crucial things: she learned how to separate fantasy from reality, had to relearn the good (weak) versus evil (powerful) thing, and more importantly, her own powers.

The way Josie’s mind worked was like this: She had three distinct categories in her head, each one organized into libraries. The first one was family. There was a section on Lizzie, “books” on how to help her sister during her episodes, the Merge, and every little thing she had learned about her sister in the seventeen years they had spent together. Caroline’s section was brightly lit with the memories of her childhood,  _ Snow White  _ and _ Little Red Riding Hood,  _ and her personal favorite, _ Cinderella.  _ The next section was on her father. This one was structured more like textbooks, where Lizzie’s were the fiction books she swore up and down she would never read.

(When they were twelve, Caroline gifted Lizzie an old, worn out copy of  _ The Lord of the Rings _ . Lizzie glared at their mom, silently saying she would never read it. “Nerd porn,” she called it. That night, Josie caught Lizzie halfway through the book already. Blue eyes stared defiantly into brown, daring Josie to say something.

Two weeks later, Josie had dropped a pen under Lizzie’s bed, and while looking underneath it, found the book sitting there.)

Her father truly only had one (extremely long) tome, sitting on a pedestal in Josie’s mind. The chapters contained multitudes, including their bio-mom, topics Alaric wouldn’t touch with a ten-foot pole, and Hope.

Hope was maybe the longest section Josie’s mind knew of. (Yes, she considered Hope her family, and what about it?) They hadn’t been friends for long, but they knew each other for a decade, and that has to count for something. The books on Hope were confusing, to say the least. Actually, Hope confused Josie as a whole. A book was dedicated to her family, every single thing Josie knew about them and how it impacted Hope. The book had a chapter dedicated to a member of the family and why she never called them. Hayley, Klaus, and Elijah, because they were, y’know, dead. Freya and Keelin because they had their own son, Hope’s cousin, to take care of. (Josie knew it hurt more because he was named after Hope’s father.) Kol and Davina because as much as they loved Hope, they were long estranged from Hope’s other family members. Rebekah because she had loved Hayley like her own sister and Klaus’s death hit her the hardest, and Hope believed she was just a reminder of what Rebekah had lost. Marcel was busy, running New Orleans in Klaus’s absence, so yeah, Hope didn’t talk to her family a lot, simply because she believed she was a burden.

Another book was dedicated to Josie overanalyzing Hope’s every decision, why she did what she did. The longest chapter, by far, was why Hope decided to keep her existence from everyone after she came back from Malivore. Josie knew that Hope saw Landon kissing her that night, but Josie also hoped that Hope knew that Landon was always going to pick her. And maybe Josie was a little jealous, and a lot afraid that yet another person would be leaving her.

(Caroline was the obvious one, because neither of the twins knew for the true reasons she left Salvatore. Jo Laughlin, because Josie had found her and lost her, all in one night. Even Lizzie, technically. They agreed to be less codependent, because it would be healthier for the both of them, but that meant losing Lizzie in a way Josie had never experienced.)

A book was devoted to Hope’s self-isolating habits, which had slowly been less and less frequent over the last year and a half. This one was split into three sections. Pre-parent deaths, post-parent deaths, and post-Malivore habits. Pre-parent death and post-parent death were pretty similar, except Hayley’s death had her door locked a lot more, and Elijah’s death had her checking out lots of books out of the library and a higher time spent on Netflix. There was something distinctly different when Klaus died, however. She was never close with Elijah, and there was something that Josie couldn't put her finger on about Hayley’s death, but Hope got closure from her mother. She did, however, know that her father gave up his life for her, after being estranged for six years, and all Hope’s goal was to know whether would be proud of her.

(What? Josie spent a lot of time observing the things around her.)

After Dark Josie, regular Josie knew that another book was created in the library dedicated to Hope, but try as she might, she could never read it, not even the title. What made it even worse was that the events of what happened during Hope’s head dive, as MG had told her, were hazy. She faintly remembers following around Hope, who was like, two heads taller than her for some reason, and then fighting Dark Josie and winning, but that’s about it.

The answer didn’t come to her until a few days later, when Hope had been in a coma for about a week at that point. Josie was at the field day when the monster appeared. She had been determined to fight, but Lizzie was protective after finding out that she put her powers away. The blonde had shot a look at MG, which he responded to with a nod. Before Josie could even question what the hell  _ that _ was, MG grabbed her and vamped her back to the school.

“Sorry, Jo, but Lizzie will kill me if you’re hurt,” he apologized after depositing her in the entrance hall before whisking away, presumably to go back to the fight. Josie shot a glare at the back of his head. When she turned around, Rafael and the Necromancer were standing there, looking oddly at her. At the sight of the Necromancer, Josie immediately got defensive, hand reflexively going to Rafael’s shoulder to siphon, before remembering that she put away her magic and retracting.

“What the hell is he doing here?” she spat.

Raf let out a long suffering sigh. “Long story short, he’s not getting the black magic unless Landon, over there, gets back in his body, which he refuses to do,” he said, glaring at the air over by a bookshelf. The statement only served to confuse Josie more.

“...What? Raf, I’m going to need a little more context.”

The werewolf explained that, like Hope, Landon had been in a coma, which Josie obviously knew, but he was dead, but because of some fucked up thing Josie didn’t fully understand, the Necromancer couldn’t get the black magic he was promised unless Landon was well and alive again. Apparently only Rafael could only see Landon, as well, but Landon, the self-sacrificial idiot, refused to get back in his body.

Josie groaned frustradely. “I really cannot do this today, I have a headache. If I could just figure out what that damn thing is in my mind,” she muttered.

The Necromancer perked up at her words. “You know, your dark and much better dressed counterpart had said something like that after you tried to Merge with that little blonde sister of yours.”

Josie felt hope bloom in her chest. “Do you know what she was talking about?”

The Necromancer tutted. “You are not getting that answer for free, Josette.”

The hope wilted. God, she had been so close, Josie could almost taste it, it was on the tip of her tongue, but she wasn’t about to give the Necromancer anything. On the other hand, not knowing made her want to almost rip her hair out. Reluctantly, Josie asked, “What do you want?”

“What I’ve been wanting all day! The little phoenix to get back into his body!”

For minutes, Josie thought the offer over, weighing the pros and the cons. The Necromancer getting the black magic, Rafael would lose his brother, the Necromancer getting magic, Hope would lose yet another person in her life. Ultimately, it was the Hope thing that did it for her.

“Fine,” Josie said. “Give us half an hour.”

The Necromancer sulked off to who-knows-where, as Josie turned to Rafael. She didn’t want to guilt Landon into doing anything, but it had been a week, and the frozen book made her head hurt and hurt.

“Raf, please tell your martyr of a brother that Hope is in a coma. When she wakes up, you know who she’s going to want first? Not me, not Lizzie, not my dad, she’s going to want her boyfriend. And do you know how she’s going to react if she finds out that her boyfriend is dead? When she does find out, we’re the ones who are going to have to explain to her that Landon sacrificed himself to stop someone that we can defeat easily with the help of our resident tribrid. So, please tell him to get back in his damn body so I can get some answers!” Josie ranted. Wow, maybe Dark Josie had affected her more than she had thought.

“He, uh, he can hear you.” Rafael rubbed the back of his neck.

Josie flinched. That is not the way she wanted him to hear it. “Oh. Sorry, Landon.”

Rafael cleared his throat. “Don’t be. She’s right, you know?” he said, looking over at a spot in the corner. “Hope loves you, and who knows what she’ll do if you’re not alive by the time she wakes up. And I love you. You’re my brother, Lan…”

Rafael continued talking, but Josie walked away. She had a feeling this was a private moment, but she knew that Rafael would convince Landon, hopefully by the time she’s found the Necromancer and got her answers. She eventually found him in the library, scanning the books leveled on the shelves.

“He’s going back to his body,” Josie said shortly, making the Necromancer jump. “Now tell me what Dark Josie said.”

Turning around, the Necromancer chuckled darkly. “You said there was something intruding upon your mind. You started meditating or something, but then good you came back.”

Josie frowned. That didn’t help much. “Well, do you know what the intruding something was?”

“The Mikaelson witch, probably. She always was the meddler. No idea what actually happened in there, but you can find out,” he offered.

“How?”

“A head dive, of course. It will allow you insight into your other mind.”

Josie looked doubtfully over the scarred man. “And why should I trust anything you say?”

“You shouldn’t,” the Necromancer snorted. “But I promised you answers for the boy, and I am truthful when it comes to that regard.” With those parting words, the Necromancer swept off, probably to put Landon back in his body. Josie, however, lingered behind in the library, walking to the vampire section. She scanned and selected a browned book.  _ Vampiric Head Dives _ , the title read.

For hours, Josie read through the book, carefully absorbing the information the book provided. It provided her with more information on how to do a head dive and how head dives work, proving the Necromancer correct for once.

It was dark outside by the time Josie walked out of the library, book clutched in hand. She first went into her and Lizzie’s shared room, where the blonde was lounged out on the bed, idly scrolling through her social media.

“Monster been defeated?” Josie asked. She had words on what her sister did, but the head dive took precedence. 

Lizzie looked up. “Yeah, it’s back to that tar pit. Listen, Jo, I’m really sorry that I had MG vamp you back home,” she apologized in a rare moment of vulnerability. “I backslid into my old ways, but you have to understand, you’re my sister, I can’t let anything happen to you.” 

Josie softened slightly at her sister’s words. They would have a full talk later, just the two of them (and maybe a little yelling at MG as well), but for now, she smiled at her sister and said, “Okay. We’ll talk more about this later, but I think I found a solution to what’s been bothering me.”

Lizzie perked up at that. Their twin bond included shared pain, and Josie had a migraine all week, which meant that Lizzie had a constant headache. “Yeah?” she asked.

“Yeah, but I’ll need MG and Dad’s help,” Josie explained. Lizzie got up off her bed, and together, the pair walked to MG’s dorm, collecting him and walking down to the principal’s office, where their dad was pouring over another book, looking for something, anything, to get Hope out of her coma, not that Landon came back.

“I’m a little busy here, kids,” he said, not looking up from the book.

“Yeah, we know,” Josie explained. “I have a solution to my problem, which might be a solution to the Hope problem, too.” At that, Alaric looked up. Josie held up the book in her hands. “I’m going to take a head dive into my mind. The Necromancer said it would help, and I know that we shouldn’t trust the Necromancer, and I don’t, but we had a deal. I’ve also been reading this book,” she said, gesturing, “And it’s safe, as long as I have an anchor.” She looked at Lizzie.

Alaric had a doubtful look on his face throughout her explanation, but Lizzie and MG caught onto her plan quickly.

“Dr. S, it’ll be totally safe, I promise,” MG stepped in. “I’ve done this before, and the only reason it was messed up is because of the Necromancer. I know how to do this.”

“And you’re going to have to kill me before I let anything happen to Josie, Dad,” Lizzie added. “We’ll get Jo some answers, solve this godforsaken headache, and hopefully know how to solve Hope’s problem.”

“We’ve got it covered, Dad,” Josie reassured.

Alaric looked deep in thought, debating whether to let them do this, before remembering the advice Sheriff Mac had given him, to let his daughters solve their own problems. “Fine,” he said finally. “But I’ll be supervising.” The kids cheered. “But the second something goes wrong-”

“Nothing will,” Lizzie interjected

“If it does,” Alaric shot a look at Lizzie, “you will stop the head dive immediately. Do I make myself clear?”

After a chorus of yeses from the trio, MG said, “Jo, the head dive means you need magic. You put it away, and are you sure you want to do this?”

Josie held up the little gold coin she had taken while Lizzie was apologizing in their room. “I know. I’m not ready to actually use magic again, but I need answers.”

MG nodded. “Only if you’re sure.”

“I am.”

Together, the four of them went up to the twins room, where they got prepared for the ritual. The twins sat in front of each other, hands linked, eyes closed, and MG sat behind Josie, his hands on her shoulders.

“Are you ready?” MG asked. Josie nodded. “Okay, I’m going to give you a countdown and when you open your eyes, you’ll be in your head. To get back, you’ll need to close your eyes and count down like I will. Understand?”

Eyes still closed, Josie replied, “I understand.”

“Three, two, one…”

Josie took a moment to herself before opening her eyes. Instead of their dimly lit room, they were in the outdoors, a forest, from the looks of it, but it was like the saturation had been turned up. Lizzie stood next to her, mouth agape.

“Well, it looks like we’re not in Kansas anymore,” Lizzie said, still shocked. Josie stayed quiet, but she was equally as surprised. Everything that happened in her mindscape came flooding back in a rush, it nearly knocked her over.

“I remember everything,” she told her sister.

“Thank God, now I won’t have those head splitting headaches,” Lizzie rolled her eyes.

Josie gasped. “Oh my God, Hope!” she exclaimed. She quickly ran through the forest, Lizzie hot on her heels.

“What? What about Hope?” she questioned. Josie didn’t answer, instead sprinting faster. She skidded to a stop in front of the rubble of a broken arch. She remembered this place well. This was the library no one ever knew about, the one where seventeen years of anger and resentment were stored. It was destroyed when Dark Josie took over. In the corner, a stone figure stood, mouth open, as if she was yelling something over her shoulder. 

“Hope,” Josie breathed.

“Oh my God!” Lizzie stood next to her, staring at the frozen Hope. “What do we do? How do we get her out of this?”

Josie thought back, trying to remember what spell she had used to put Hope in this state in the first place. It was a silent  _ induresco,  _ if she was remembering right. “Okay, I used  _ indueresco _ to get her like this. What’s the counterspell?” She asked Lizzie.

“Hell if I know, I haven’t attended classes in months!” 

They were fucked.

“Think, think, think,” Josie muttered, pacing back and forth. “ _ Liber _ is used for mental spells, what’s the release for physical spells? Not  _ eximo _ , either.” Josie snapped. “I got it! Lizzie, come help me.”

Lizzie came to stand next to her. “How do we do this?”

“The spell needs conviction, otherwise it won’t work,” Josie spoke quickly, as she usually did when she was nervous. They linked hands. “Repeat after me.  _ Solvo ex captivitate dimittere.” _

Together, the twins repeated the phrase over and over. Slowly, the rocky texture was beginning to fade from Hope’s complexion, moving from her hair down, until she was released from the stone.

“-ory!” Hope yelled, probably finishing whatever she was saying before she got turned. The twins stopped chanting, dropping hands to jump on Hope, giving her the biggest hug she had ever had. Tentatively, though very, very confused, Hope put her arms around the twins’ necks, hugging them back.

“...hi?” she said, confusedly. “What’s going on here?”

The twins didn’t respond, instead pulling her closer to them. Content to stay silent for a moment, Hope allowed them to hug her, before stepping back.

“Will someone explain now?” she asked.

Lizzie opened her mouth to respond, but Josie beat her to it. “It’s a long story. What do you remember?”

Hope closed her eyes, attempting to remember. “I remember…fighting with Dark Josie. Her saying something about...strikes?” Josie winced. “Then, nothing.”

Josie took a step back, ashamed that she couldn’t control herself enough. Lizzie squeezed her hand before explaining to Hope, “You were turned to stone. It left you in a coma in the real world.”

Hope gasped. “Am I alright?”

“Physically, yes. Mentally, well, have you ever been mentally stable?” Lizzie joked.

Hope grinned before directing her attention to Josie, who had been staying oddly quiet. “Are you okay?” she asked, voice soft.

Josie hesitated before answering. “That’s a loaded question. Dark Josie is definitely gone, though. Especially because I put my magic away.”

Hope frowned. “But then how are you here? I took a head dive to get in here, so so would the two of you.”

“I unsiphoned,” Josie explained. “I’ll put it back, but it’s a very, very long story, and I’ll explain more later, but I would like to get out of here, please.”

Lizzie nodded in agreement. The three of them clasped hands, closed their eyes, and counted backwards from three.

When Josie and Lizzie opened their eyes, they were back in their room, their father staring worriedly at them. MG also opened his eyes.

Alaric began to spit out quick fire questions. “What happened? Are you guys alright? Is Hope okay?”

He would have continued on, but Lizzie and Josie made eye contact, and in a split second, they were up and running again, this time through the halls of their school instead of a forest. Alaric and MG followed them, albeit confusedly. Together, the twins stopped in front of Rafael and Landon’s dorm room, hesitantly pushing it open. There, sitting awake on the bed, was Hope.

She was looking around confusedly, because the last thing she remembered from the real world was being in the principal’s office, not her boyfriend’s room. When her eyes landed on Josie and Lizzie, familiar faces, she let out a relieved sigh. The twins practically tackled her into a hug on Rafael’s bed, where Hope laughed and hugged them back.

Alaric clapped MG on the back and said, “Let’s give them a minute.” They left the room in search of Rafael and Landon.

Lizzie sat back from the hug, but Josie clung to Hope like a lifeline, and the feeling was mutual.

“I’m so sorry,” Josie murmured into her neck.

She didn’t need to say what she was apologizing for, Hope understood. “It’s not your fault, Jo, you weren’t in control. But you got it back, and that’s what counts,” she reassured. Lizzie placed a supportive hand on Josie’s back.

“I’m still sorry,” she whispered.

Hope simply hugged the siphoner tighter. “I know.”

That was the sight Landon, Rafael, Alaric, and MG walked into: Hope and Josie hugging furiously, Lizzie sitting next to them. Though they couldn’t see it, Josie had tears running down her face, and Hope’s eyes were glistening. Even Lizzie was sniffling a little.

“Hope,” Landon said. Hope and Josie broke apart, Josie sitting back next to Lizzie to give the couple some space. Landon wrapped Hope in his own hug, as well as pressing a kiss to her lips. “I’m so glad you’re awake,” he said, stepping back.

Hope smiled. “Yeah, well, it’s thanks to the twins.”

“And MG,” Josie piped up. “MG was there too.”

Hope shot a grateful look at the boy. They weren’t close, he was more Josie and Lizzie’s friend than hers, but she was grateful nevertheless.

The air was charged emotionally, and Alaric and Rafael gave Hope a hug as well, before Josie and Lizzie supported Hope as they walked out of that room to go to the twins’ room, where they would cuddle and talk about whatever happened in Josie’s mindscape. Landon was reluctant to let Hope go, but with the promise of not letting her out of their sight, Josie and Lizzie convinced him.

They all dropped on Josie’s bed, squeezing together tightly on the double bed. Hope was in the middle, Lizzie on her right, Josie her left. They were content, there were no monsters in sight, no relationship problems, and they were all happy, for the first time in a long time. They chatted idly about Josie’s odd mindscape, until every topic was exhausted. A comfortable silence settled over them. Lizzie’s head dropped on top of Hope’s shoulder, falling to exhaustion. It had been a long day. Scared of shifting in case it would wake Lizzie up, Hope turned her head towards Josie.

“So, how about that kissing thing?” Hope teased Josie.

“Oh, God,” Josie groaned, letting her head fall into her hands.

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading!! you can find me on tumblr @ dreamerdiving.tumblr.com


End file.
